The BitTorrent network has been as controversial and misunderstood as it’s been successful. Now it’s going to become a blockchain network (based on Tron) and that’s just making things more controversial, but it could also make it even more successful.
At the center of this shift from traditional P2P decentralization to the blockchain, decentralization is a new cryptocurrency called BTT and it’s based on Tron’s token technology.
BitTorrent
But we start at the beginning.
BitTorrent brought forward the idea of decentralization years before crypto ever existed. In 2001, to be precise. It began and still is, a 100% decentralized network for sharing files. At the time, there were several of those (eMule, eDonkey, Napster, and several others) but BitTorrent ended up being the sole survivor.
It’s still around and, in some regions of the world, it accounts for 70% of the internet traffic. It’s the world’s largest decentralized network even today, with more than a hundred million total users scattered all over the planet every month.
Tron
Tron is much more recent, it’s not even two years old yet. It’s a blockchain project founded by Justin Sun, that aims to decentralize the web as a whole using cryptographic technology (Tron’s own technology, preferably).
BitTorrent is already decentralized (if not by means of blockchains) and it hosts gargantuan amounts of content. Both projects are aligned in many ways so it wasn’t much of a surprise when the Tron Foundation bought BitTorrent a few months ago.
After that, Tron announced that it will merge Bitcoin into Tron through something called “Project Atlas”. That will see BitTorrent become a blockchain network, and, as every blockchain, it will include a token (BTT).
BTT
So what would be the point in yet another new cryptocurrency? It actually makes sense, keep on reading.
The first (and most obvious) use case for BTT will be to enhance the way in which BitTorrent works. It will incentivize users to keep sharing their content by longer periods of time by allowing them to earn some passive income.
So, if you seed your files for longer, the network will reward you with some digital money. But that just would be the beginning.
Imagine that, as BitTorrent becomes a blockchain, then you can deploy smart contracts, decentralized applications, and websites in a Tron’s subsidiary network. In that scenario, BTT would allow you to participate in those apps and contracts and even develop new ones if that’s your cup of tea.
But there’s another scenario that’s even more interesting. You could actually develop and deploy websites that would run on BitTorrent. You would have no servers, but the sites would be hosted by the decentralized network and not by Microsoft, Google, Youtube, Facebook, or any other of the usual suspects.
Then the new token would allow you to monetize your content directly from users, and for users to pay for the things they really want.
In that context, Tron’s vision of a decentralized web could get started in the next few months instead of the next few years.
The point is: while the first use case can be obvious, there are plenty more that will only become apparent as the network develops. And they could change the way we think about the internet.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.